Sol-gel synthesis and photoluminescence of LaPO_4:Eu~(3+) nanorods

Monoclinic LaPO₄ nanostructures with uniform rod shape have been successfully synthesized by a simple sol-gel method. The procedure involves formation of homogeneous, transparent, metal-citrate-EDTA gel precursors, followed by calcination to promote thermal decomposition of the gel precursors to yield the LaPO₄ nanoparticles. Their morphologies and structures were characterized by XRD, TEM, TG-DSC and HRTEM. The results indicate that single monoclinic phase LaPO₄ nanorods are readily obtained at 800 ? within 3 h. Furthermore, photoluminescence (PL) characterization of the Eu³⁺-doped LaPO₄ nanocrystals was carried out. The effects of calcination temperatures and Eu³⁺ doping content on the PL properties were elaborated in detail. Room-temperature photoluminescence (PL) characterization reveals that the optical brightness as well as the intensity ratio of ⁵D₀-⁷F₁ to ⁵D₀-⁷F₂ is highly dependent on the calcination temperature, and the Eu_0.05La_0.95PO₄ nanophosphor shows the relatively promising PL performance with the most intense emission.